Harrison's Reports (1936)

BntereU as second-class matter January 4. 1921. at the post office at New York New York, under the act or March 3, 1579. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: j ^Q BROADWAY nJlt^lWlJ? United States $15. 90 V 1, 1M V Publisher U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 r^iew IOfK, JN. I. P. S. HARRISON, Editor Canada 16.50 Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 A Motion Pic ture Reviewing Service Established July 1, 1919 Great Britain . . 15.75 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Australia, New Zealand, ^r^hf'T^f 6"6379 Iiulia, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial HarreportsS' 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor (Bentley Code) AREVIEWINQ SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XVIII ^XfURDXYTDECEMBER 12, 1936 No. 50 Box Office Performances of 1935-36 and 1936-37 Pictures — No. 3 RKO (Radio) Pictures Wheeler and Woolsey"; the box office performance of it is (1935-36 Season ) Poor, for the reason that these two players have lost their m. • . , ■ . ., i mie ia drawing power. They began to go down ever since they This company sold 46 pictures on the regular 193o-o6 Yin that coarse and vile picture, "So This is contract, and two in natural colors or a total of 48 pictures. Afn hkfa , ^ b Columbia in 1933. Up to Wanted! Jane Turner, it delivered a total ot 42, ' among which pictures is only one in natural colors — "The Twentieth Century-Fox Dancing Pirate" ; but there are more to come, in accordance / 1935.35 Season) with a statement of its Home Office. T T , , „ . , _ „ , , In July, last year, twentieth Century-rox took over the The following are the box office performances of 40 of pox Film Corporation, the 42 (No checkup was made of "Powder Smcke Range" Before the amalgamation, Fox Film Corporation had and "Wanted! Jane Turner.") sold a large number of contracts, calling for a maximum Excellent, 3 : "Top Hat," "Follow the Fleet," and "The number of fifty pictures and a minimum number of forty. Ex-Mrs. Bradford." After the amalgamation, the program was split into two Excellent to Very Good, 1 : "Swing Time." groups : Twentieth Century-Fox, again calling for a maxi-. r r , M mum number of fifty, or a minimum number of forty, picVery oood, in one. tures; and Twentieth Century, calling for a maximum Very Good to Good, None. number of twelve, or a minimum number of nine, producGood, 5 : "Annie Oakley," "In Person," "The Lady Con tions. sents," "Let's Sing Again," and "The Bride Walks Out." The present check-up groups both brands, since no reason Good to Fair, 2: "I Dream Too Much" and "Mary of exists for treating them separately. Scotland. jne f0nowmg [s a report of their box office performFair, 9: "Seven Keys to Baldpate," "Sylvia Scarlett," ances • ve„°" \BeTt'" 7ne(,Wit"K.iinrr'" l^St\; Excellent, 10 : "Steamboat Round the Bend," "Thanks a gator The Last Outlaw, Waging on Air, Don t Milli » 01d Kentucky," "The Littlest Rebel," "King Turn Em Loose, and A Woman Rebels. of Burlesque » «The pris0ner of Shark Island," "The Fair to Poor, 7 : "The Return of Peter Grimm," "We're Country Doctor," "Captain January," "Under Two Flags," Only Human," "Farmer in the Dell," "Murder on the and "The Poor Little Rich Girl." Bridle Path," "Bunker Bean," "M'Liss," and "Grand Jury." Excellent to Very Good, None. P,oor',}3X>H>s ^TVrf."«'AHi £auC£.°'" 7.^Rain" Very Good, 2: "Show 'Em No Mercy," and "Private makers, To Beat the Band, Another hace, Iwo m Number" the Dark," "Chatterbox," "Muss 'Em Up," "Yellow Dust," * „ ' „ . . , ... „ . .... "Silly Billies," "Two in Revolt," "The Dancing Pirate," . „Very Goo£ to Good, 2: Professional Soldier, and A and "Second Wife." Message to Garcia. „ . , . 1 • , , ^.j Good, 10: "The Farmer Takes a Wife," "The Gay Recapitulating he gradings without the titles, we get Deception," "Here's to Romance," "The Man Who Broke the following results : the Bank at Monte Carlo," "Paddy O'Day," "Every Satur Excellent, 3 ; Excellent to Very Good, 1 ; Very Good, day Night," "It Had to Happen," "Everybody's Old Man," None; Very Good to Good, None; Good, 5; Good to Fair, "Gentle Julia," and "Little Miss Nobody." 2 ; Fair, 9 ; Fair to Poor, 7 ; Poor 13. Good tQ Fair; 7 . "Charlie Chan in Shanghai," "This is The number of first and second-rank star pictures re the Life," "Way Down East," "Navy Wife," "Charlie leased, regardless of their box office performances, are as Chan's Secret," "Charlie Chan at the Circus," and "36 follows : Hours to Kill." Pictures with first-rank stars, 4 ; "Top Hat," "Follow Fair, 12 : "Welcome Home," "Dante's Inferno," "Metro the Fleet," and "Swing Time," all with the team of Fred politan," "Your Uncle Dudley," "Here Comes Trouble," Astaire and Ginger Rogers. (Each of these stars indi "The Song and Dance Man," "The Country Beyond," vidually is not as big a drawing card at the box office as is "Champagne Charlie," "Sins of Man." "The Crime of the combination), and "The Ex-Mr.-.. Bradford," with Dr. Forbes," "White Fang," and "Educating Father." William Powell. Fair tQ p0Qr> 6. «Bad Boy., "Music is Magic," "The Pictures with second-rank stars, 6: "Sylvia Scarlett," First Baby," "Half Angel," "Human Cargo," and "High with Katherine Hepburn; "The Lady Consents," with Ann Tension." Harding and Herbert Marshall : "The Witness Chair " Poor)'4: "Dressed to Thrill," "Redheads on Parade." With Ann Harding; Let s Sing Again, with Bobby "Thunder in the Night," and "My Marriage." Lireen ; Mary of Scotland, with Katherine Hepburn, and ™ , , ■ , , ., «,» ^ ■ , "A Woman Rebels," with Katherine Hepburn. Miss Hep This checkup includes neither A Connecticut Yankee m burn seems to have lost most of her drawing power. Her J>inS Arthtir s Court, which was a re-issue, nor the 4 last picture— "A Woman Rebels," is doing very poor at the Geor§e 0 Bnen Plctures> which are the following : box office for a Hepburn picture. Ann Harding, too, does "Thunder Mountain," "Whispering Smith Speaks," not seem to mean much to the box office any longer. "O'Malley of the Mounted," and "Border Patrolman." This paper does not class Lily Pons as a second-rank Recapitulating the gradings without the titles, we get star yet, for her first picture, "I Dream Too Much," al the following results : though entertaining, did not do so well. Perhaps "The Excellent, 10; Excellent to Very Good, None; Very Street Girl," just completed, will do better ; but until it is Good, 2 ; Very Good to Good, 2 ; Good, 10 ; Good to Fair, 7 ; released, we will not be able to know whether she has Fair, 12 ; Fair to Poor, 6 ; Poor, 4. grown popular in any degree or not. This company delivered the following pictures with (1936-37 Season) cither first or second-rank stars, regardless of the worth of Of the new season's RKO product, Harrison's Reports the pictures at the box office: can report only one just now — "Mummy's Boys," with {Continued on last f>a(je)